THE BEST GIFT IDEAS FOR YOUR BOYFRIEND THAT SHOW YOU REALLY KNOW THEM
THE BEST GIFT IDEAS FOR YOUR BOYFRIEND THAT SHOW YOU REALLY KNOW THEM (OR AT LEAST KNOW HOW TO IMPRESS THEM IN 2022) By Fashion Beans Selecting the perfect boyfriend is a chore. Sorry, we meant selecting the best gifts for that already perfect boyfriend can be a chore. And yet, it’s a strange thing to ask the very non-intimate Internet what it thinks you should buy your hopefully quite intimate boyfriend. If it helps, think of us more as friends. In fact, I’m a boyfriend myself, so I get it? The simple fact is that you are showing love by simply trying to find a gift they’ll like. It shows you care. But the perfect gift is different for every guy. It’s also dependent on how long you’ve been going out. You don’t want to splurge thousands on a birthday gift if you’ve only been dating a couple of weeks. So this comprehensive guide will cover all bases for your gift-giving curiosities. Grab a nice cold drink, get comfortable on the couch and treat yourself to some indulgent scroll time. Let us deliver that all-important aha! moment to you. Read on to find the best gift for your boyfriend, that the ever-resourceful internet can provide. 1. BEST OVERALL GIFT FOR YOUR BOYFRIEND: TUDOR 1926 WRISTWATCH Saying “I love you” via the medium of a gift is a difficult task, but a high-class watch can speak those words thousands of times over. This Tudor 1926 watch comes in a timeless design, meaning it can add panache to any outfit it finds itself with. The buttery dark brown leather, clean white watch face, and silver hardware are quotidian masterpieces. It’s a truly great everyday piece. 2. BEST CHRISTMAS GIFT FOR YOUR BOYFRIEND: KINDLE PAPERWHITE Often, the best Christmas present is the one that opens up potential. Books are one of the purest routes to discovery and provide the opportunity to delve into the great minds of others. But a Kindle is for bookworms and casual readers alike. This Paperwhite edition has everything a word nerd needs—advert free, 32GB memory, Audible compatible, and it’s waterproof. 3. BEST BIRTHDAY GIFT FOR YOUR BOYFRIEND: BANG & OLUFSEN BEOSOUND EXPLORE BLUETOOTH SPEAKER There are few things in life more connective than music. This Bang & Olufsen Beosound Explore reaches peak gift for your boyfriend. On his birthday, he’ll be able to invite all his friends, taking them and his beloved playlists wherever he wants, playing it at full blast. Yay. These speakers have a powerful bass and 360-degree sound field to immerse yourself in. 4. BEST CUTE GIFT FOR YOUR BOYFRIEND: UGG OLSEN MOCCASIN SLIPPER Your man will never look so cute as when his feet are swaddled in shearling. While warm feet are desired in the winter, one fear isn’t so cute, however: smelly, sweaty feet. Never fear. UGG provides moisture-wicking wool that feels like shearling but acts like wool. These brown suede mocassins have all bases covered. 5. BEST DIY GIFT FOR YOUR BOYFRIEND: DIY SCREEN PRINTING KIT Every guy had this thought at one point in their over-optimistic youth: I could totally set up a successful t-shirt business. Put this theory to the test with a screen printing kit. While entrepreneurial success might not be the goal, this kit is a great way to experiment, have fun, and express yourself via the medium of merch. 6. BEST ANNIVERSARY GIFT FOR YOUR BOYFRIEND: SHIATSU FOOT MASSAGER MACHINE WITH HEAT Because nothing says “long-term relationship” like a foot massage machine. Romance might be in a quieter place, but comfort is thriving. If you’ve ever been requested to rub your partner’s feet (not in that way), you’ll know exactly why a foot the massager machine was invented. It comes with an inbuilt infrared heat function, air compression, and massage functions. Get me one while you’re at it, please? 7. BEST VALENTINE’S GIFT FOR YOUR BOYFRIEND: FERRERO ROCHER Ferrero Rocher is a chocolate-hazelnut ball held together by a crisp wafer shell with hazelnut chocolate inside. God, I’m hungry. But, it is also the bonafide romance chocolate (pardon the pun). The wavy paper cup and golden wrapping are too high-class to be purchased as regular chocolate. When purchasing for Valentine’s, note that it should come as a part of the romantic holy trinity of cards, flowers, and chocolates. 8. BEST SENTIMENTAL GIFT FOR YOUR BOYFRIEND: BONSAI TREE CHINESE ELM Sentiment is a feeling built over time. While we can’t look into the crystal ball and know exactly what the best gift for your boyfriend is, we can suggest things that offer the possibility of a sentimental relationship. A bonsai tree is a perfect gift in this respect. Plus, their difficulty to keep alive is actually a good thing. You get to test out his capacity for responsibility, care, and dedication. Nothing weird about that… 9. BEST CREATIVE GIFT FOR YOUR BOYFRIEND: MUBI ARTHOUSE CINEMA To be a real creative, you have to be into all things artsy and off-the-wall. There are lots of left-field films on MUBI, but every single one is worth the watch. You can take my word for it. This recurring best gift for your boyfriend will now be able to add “arthouse film aficionado” to his growing list of creative identities. 10. BEST THOUGHTFUL GIFT FOR YOUR BOYFRIEND: ATLAS COFFEE CLUB SUBSCRIPTION If your boyfriend loves coffee (there are a lot of us coffee freaks out there), it follows that a coffee subscription is a thoughtful gift for your boyfriend. Then, consider that caffeine is a stimulant. Thoughtful, see? Atlas has curated its coffee, supplying from micro-lots in Tanzania, Kenya, and Columbia. They are then roasted fresh and sent off. That means delicious coffee and minimal fuss; very thoughtful indeed. And in OUR humble opinion, a GIFT CARD to the Mug Shoppe would make the absolute best gift for you boyfriend!
21 Epigrams Every Man Should Live By
21 Epigrams Every Man Should Live By By Ryan Holiday With our archives now 3,500+ articles deep, we’ve decided to republish a classic piece each Friday to help our newer readers discover some of the best, evergreen gems from the past. This article was originally published in January 2018. As long as man has been alive, he has been collecting little sayings about how to live. We find them carved in the rock of the Temple of Apollo and etched as graffiti on the walls of Pompeii. They appear in the plays of Shakespeare, the commonplace book of H. P. Lovecraft, the collected proverbs of Erasmus, and the ceiling beams of Montaigne’s study. Today, they’re recorded on iPhones and in Evernote. But whatever generation is doing it, whether they’re written by scribes in China or commoners in some European dungeon or simply passed along by a kindly grandfather, these little epigrams of life advice have taught essential lessons. How to respond to adversity. How to think about money. How to meditate on our mortality. How to have courage. And they pack all this in in so few words. “What is an epigram?” Coleridge asked, “A dwarfish whole; Its body brevity, and wit its soul.” Epigrams are what Churchill was doing when he said: “To improve is to change, so to be perfect is to have changed often.” Or Balzac: “All happiness depends on courage and work.” Ah yes, epigrams are often funny too. That’s how we remember them. Napoleon: “Never interrupt an enemy making a mistake.” François de La Rochefoucauld: “We hardly find any persons of good sense save those who agree with us.” Voltaire: “A long dispute means that both parties are wrong.” Below are some wonderful epigrams that span some 21 centuries and 3 continents. Each one is worth remembering, having queued in your brain for one of life’s crossroads or to drop at the perfect moment in conversation. Each will change and evolve with you as you evolve (Heraclitus: “No man steps in the same river twice”) and yet each will remain strong and unyielding no matter how much you may one day try to wiggle out and away from them. Fundamentally, each one will teach you how to be a better man. If you let them. “We must all either wear out or rust out, every one of us. My choice is to wear out.” —Theodore Roosevelt At the beginning of his life, few would have predicted that Theodore Roosevelt even had a choice in the matter. He was sickly and fragile, doted on by worried parents. Then, a conversation with his father sent him driven, almost maniacally in the other direction. “I will make my body,” he said, when told that he would not go far in this world with a brilliant mind in a frail body. What followed was a montage of boxing, hiking, horseback riding, hunting, fishing, swimming, boldly charging enemy fire, and then a grueling work pace as one of the most prolific and admired presidents in American history. Again, this epigram was prophetic for Roosevelt, because at only 54 years old, his body began to wear out. An assassination attempt left a bullet lodged in his body and it hastened his rheumatoid arthritis. On his famous “River of Doubt” expedition he developed a tropical fever and the toxins from an infection in his leg left him nearly dead. Back in America he contracted a severe throat infection and was later diagnosed with inflammatory rheumatism, which temporarily confined him to a wheelchair (saying famously, “All right! I can work that way too!”) and then he died at age 60. But there is not a person on the planet who would say that he had not made a fair trade, that he had not worn his life well and not lived a full one in those 60 years. “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” —Epictetus There is the story of the alcoholic father with two sons. One follows in his father’s footsteps and ends up struggling through life as a drunk, and the other becomes a successful, sober businessman. Each are asked: “Why are you the way you are?” The answer for both is the same: “Well, it’s because my father was an alcoholic.” The same event, the same childhood, two different outcomes. This is true for almost all situations—what happens to us is an objective reality, how we respond is a subjective choice. The Stoics—of which Epictetus was one—would say that we don’t control what happens to us, all we control are our thoughts and reactions to what happens to us. Remember that: You’re defined in this life not by your good luck or your bad luck, but your reaction to those strokes of fortune. Don’t let anyone tell you different. “The best revenge is not to be like that.” —Marcus Aurelius There is a proverb about revenge: Before setting out for a journey of revenge, dig two graves. Because revenge is so costly, because the pursuit of it often wears on the one who covets it. Marcus’s advice is easier and truer: How much better it feels to let it go, to leave the wrongdoer to their wrongdoing. And from what we know, Marcus Aurelius lived this advice. When Avidius Cassius, one of his most trusted generals rebelled and declared himself emperor, Marcus did not seek vengeance. Instead, he saw this as an opportunity to teach the Roman people and the Roman Senate about how to deal with civil strife in a compassionate, forgiving way. Indeed, when assassins struck Cassius down, Marcus supposedly wept. This is very different than the idea of “Living well being the best revenge”—it’s not about showing someone up or rubbing your success in their face. It’s that the person who wronged you is not happy, is not enjoying their life. Do not become like them. Reward yourself by being the opposite of them. “There is good in everything, if only we look for it.” —Laura Ingalls Wilder Laura Ingalls